Four bodies have been recovered from the wreck of the superyacht that sank in a storm early Monday morning, Salvatore Cocina, the head of the civil protection agency in Sicily, confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday.
The rescue teams did not immediately identify the names or sex of the victims. The total number of victims now stands at five, after one person was confirmed dead earlier this week.
Two people are still missing. Specialist divers had warned that the operation to search for the missing passengers was proving challenging.
Italian emergency services had gained access to some rooms on the ship, but were struggling to access sleeping cabins where those onboard may have been at the time of the disaster. This had prevented the divers from seeing if anyone is inside.
The wreck is lying at a tilt at a depth of approximately 50 meters (164 feet), while narrow access points, thick glass windows, and a range of objects and electrical cables are obstructing access.
Divers involved in the operation told NBC News on Wednesday that the depth of the wreck meant they only had 10 minutes to search the vessel before having to return to the surface.
Those reported missing are British technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah; Morgan Stanley International Chair Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, charity trustee Judy Bloomer; and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, jewelry designer Neda Morvillo.
The Italian Coast Guard on Tuesday confirmed to Sky News that the man who died during the incident was Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan chef.
According to reports from eyewitnesses and survivors, the ship was violently rocked by a storm at around 4 a.m. local time on Monday while it was anchored near the Sicilian port of Porticello. It sank rapidly after capsizing.
Lynch was acquitted less than three months ago by a U.S. court on 15 charges of conspiracy and wire fraud, relating to the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard in 2011. Lynch had long denied artificially inflating the value of the company ahead of its $11.7 billion sale and was in 2023 extradited from the U.K. to stand trial in the U.S.
The trip on the U.K.-flagged luxury yacht Bayesian is thought to have marked a celebration of Lynch’s acquittal. Morvillo represented Lynch in the case, while Bloomer — who serves in a nonexecutive role as chair of Morgan Stanley’s European branch — testified for the defense.
Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was on the ship and was rescued along with 14 others, including a one-year-old baby and her parents.
In a separate incident on Saturday, Stephen Chamberlain, the former vice president of finance at Autonomy and a co-defendant in Lynch’s trial, died after being hit by a car while on a run in Cambridgeshire, England, Chamberlain’s lawyer told the Reuters news agency.
— CNBC’s Sophie Kiderlin contributed to this report.
